Intel is opening a dedicated cybersecurity research and development center in Israel and has joined Team8, an Israeli firm that develops cybersecurity startups, as a strategic partner, the U.S. semiconductor maker said on Wednesday. The new center will employ scores of people and focus on developing tools to protect Intel products from cyberthreats. Jacob Mendel, former cybersecurity chief technology officer at Broadcom, will head the new center. Team8 co-founder and CEO Nadav Zafrir said the tie-up with Intel involves sharing information and expertise to cope with cybersecurity threats. “Team8’s goal is to develop solutions to the biggest problems in cybersecurity,” he said. “Intel’s joining our syndicate is a major addition that will give us insights into the mobile, cloud and ‘internet of things’ revolutions.” Other Team8 syndicate members include Microsoft, Citigroup, Bessemer Venture Partners and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. (Eliran Rubin)

Ex-programmers offered route back to tech

Older programmers who have left high-tech are being wooed back under a new initiative by the American Joint Distribution Committee, tech entrepreneur Zohar Zisapel and the Labor Ministry. The first refresher course begins July 9 at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology’s Sarona campus in Tel Aviv. The program, called Emtza Haderekh (Hebrew for “midway”) includes 320 hours of instruction, workplace experience and resume-polishing skills, four days a week, with class size limited to 25. The sponsored say students will pay just 2,950 shekels for tuition and registration, a fraction of the 15,000-shekel ($4,230) cost per person. “It’s hard to recruit tech workers right now,” said Zisapel. “But every year some 3,000 to 4,000 engineers leave the labor market. ... The way to bring them back is to get them back in the classroom and turn them into [software] developers.” (Tali Heruti-Sover)

VC Bessemer names new partner to Israel office

Bessemer Venture Partners, a $4 billion, U.S.-based venture capital firm, is expanding its operations in Israel. The firm said on Wednesday that Amit Karp, who joined Bessemer in 2012 in the firm’s New York office, will be promoted to partner in its Herzliya Pituah, Israel, office. He will join Adam Fisher, who has been Bessemer’s sole Israel partner since 2007, when he founded the VC’s Israel arm. Karp worked with portfolio companies Blue Apron and Fuze before moving to the firm’s Israel office in 2014. Amit serves on the boards of startups Otonomo and ScyllaDB and is involved in Bessemer’s investments in Oryx Vision, Yotpo, Prospera and Cloudinary, and the successful exit of CloudLock. Bessmer has invested in more than 30 Israeli startups in the past decade, including Fiverr and MyHeritage. (Eliran Rubin)